Question About Making A Super Simple Wedding Cake???

We are having a simple wedding with 80 guests and a rustic type theme. All I want for my cake is three layers (not split for filling), with syrup on the top of each cake layer for some extra moisture, a rough buttercream frosting and a cake topper on top. We might put some lavender around the bottom layer.

My question is this: If I bake 16in, 9in, and 6in layers, can I just layer them as I have smaller cakes in the past? Or would I need to use cake boards or dowel rods to add support?

AI don't think you need a 16" for 80 guests. You may want to stack the cake pans and see if you like the look of those sizes on top of each other. Personally, I would do a 12", 9", and 6" (100 servings) And what petitecat said, definitely use cake boards and support system. I hear sps is really good.

If I do split the cake layers (and maybe do a 12" 9" 6") am I biting off more than I can chew? I have lots of experience making smaller tiered cakes and filling them. I plan to bake the cakes about a month before the wedding and freeze them, frost them the day before. How hard is it to use the cake boards and dowel rods?? Is there a large learning curve?

AWhy don't you watch a couple of YouTube videos on how to stack cakes to get a good picture of the process, then practice dowelling a two tier cake of whatever size you can manage. Practice makes perfect and trying it out for yourself will let you see whether you can manage or not, I'm fairly certain you will :)

If you are doing the cake with buttercream and you are worried about time (which I would be if it was me) then why don't you look into freezing the finished cake. I did this with a SMBC iced cake and it worked great. I torted, filled and iced it then put it in a cake box and wrapped the box with three or four layers if gladwrap then stuck it in the freezer.

It was only a small cake (the 6inch cake that I stacked on an 8 inch cake) and i didn't really need to pre do it but I was curious to see how it worked.

The night before I wanted to use it I put it in the fridge to defrost then pulled it out onto the bench early the next morning (round 6am as I needed it for 10am) and let it come to room temperature while still wrapped in the gladwrap.

Once I figured it would be close enough to the right temp I opened up the box and stacked it on the larger cake with no problems. It tasted great and there was little to no condensation on the cake itself - all the condensation stayed on the gladwrap.

Edited to add I froze the finished cake for a week but we often cut cakes into pieces and have them in the freezer for a month or more with no effect to the flavor.

AIf you watch a couple of videos, think you will be fine. I'm a new when it came to stacking. I've done maybe 4 total. As long as you follow directions, it will be OK. If you're going to transport to location yourself, make sure you stack at event. Good luck! Congrats!

You don't need to split the cakes - I always bake two cakes per tier. Just level the tops and sandwich them together with a this layer of the same buttercream you're using for the outside.

I second 12/9/6 tiers - I think it's a nice look.

I use drinking straws instead of dowels - much easier to cut - but definitely do use cake boards under each tier.

I would take the tiers separately and stack them onsite - if it's a rough finish anyway, it won't matter if it gets a bit dented, and it will be much easier to travel if you're not experienced with driving with a stacked cake, or not confident of your construction.